Real name: John Wesley Payne

Effective period / Period of releases: 1991

Singer - Songwriter - Producer

John Payne is known within the local music circle as the “Prince” of the Bay Area, because of his abilities to write, produce, and arrange. He first broke onto the Billboard charts with his number one hit, “She Just Can’t Help It.” He has recorded and performed with various artists, including George Clinton, Larry Graham, Rick James, the late great keyboardist Merl Saunders of the Grateful Dead and others... . A bucket list moment came when Payne got a call from Prince asking him to fly out to Minnesota to jam with him and his group, the New Power Generation (NPG) at Paisley Park Studios for a week.